Presenter: Bart Johnson, professor emeritus from University of Oregon

Oak-pine savanna and prairie have persisted in the Willamette Valley and other parts of the lowland Pacific Northwest for thousands of years. These ecosystems appear well-suited to projected future climate because of their resilience to heat, drought, and fire. With rapidly increasing risk to forests and people from wildfire, sustaining and restoring vegetation mosaics that include oak-pine savanna could be a key to both regional biodiversity conservation and reducing the risk of catastrophic fires.